Developing a School Culture Around Design Thinking
The tides of a paradigm shift in education are on the shore. It is imperative that we prepare our learners to be confident in their abilities to adapt to a rapidly changing world. To instill an innovator’s mindset into all that we do. To get to this point, though, we must create systems of thought and actions that support our values. It is our mission “to inspire students to reach their highest level of personal and academic fulfillment. To reach that goal, we are not afraid to chart a different path if we believe it will clearly benefit our students.” Innovation does not come from new ideas that suddenly pop into your head, but from ideas that are developed, tested, questioned, and reworked. To best support this innovative mindset, we will be working on integrating the theories and practices of Design Thinking in all aspects of what we do here at Alcuin. It is not our aim to change the role of the teacher in the classroom, but to find ways to empower teachers to innovate in order to provide the best opportunities for learning to our students (Martin, 2015).
The driving forces behind this initiative are the changing world that we live in, the unknown future careers of our students, and our own mission to inspire them to reach their highest level of personal and academic fulfillment. The launching of the Russian Sputnik in 1957 ushered in a new era in educational reform placing high esteem in the subjects of math and science to propel us into the future. This was a new concept in education, preparing students for a world that did not yet exist. “The impossible yesterday is routine today. Wait until tomorrow.” (Loc 838), as Sir Ken Robinson (2011) states in Out of Our Minds, speaks to the recognition that change is occurring at a rapid pace, especially in technology, and it is not going to stop. We recognize that knowledge provides power to act as a catalyst that drives positive change (Calabrese, 2002) and believe that the Design Thinking model, when faced with change, prepares us to gather as much knowledge as we can to inform our path forward. As stated in our mission: “We believe, now more than ever, that future success in life and in work will depend on a person’s ability to think creatively, work collaboratively, and reason critically.”
In modeling and teaching the design process to our students we are providing systems for them to find their own way forward creatively in whatever situations they may find themselves in.
In initiating this change it is important to consider the impact that this will have on our community. In order to develop a culture in which Design Thinking is widely utilized there are steps that Alcuin School is dedicated to following through with. For the students to begin to gain an understanding of Design Thinking, the ideas and processes will be introduced this fall by the Design teacher in each of the Middle Years Program (MYP) Design classes. This teacher is already well versed in Design Thinking as well as, the model fits well with the MYP Design curriculum. The Design teacher will also act as a thought leader to the faculty as they become more familiar with the model. To build on and develop individual’s capacities and thus the organizational capacity, motivated and capable staff members will be selected to attend thorough professional development (PD) workshops on Design Thinking for educators prior to the coming school year (Evans, 1996). The Design teacher and the initial teachers that attend the workshops will be highlighted as change agents. The change agents are critical to the widespread acceptance of Design Thinking into the culture of the school. Throughout the school year, these teachers will be asked to lead and develop communities of practice that meet on a monthly basis during the regularly scheduled PD meetings. These communities of practice will focus their discussions and work on two book studies, one on the Design Thinking for Educators Toolkit and the other on The Innovator’s Mindset. Throughout these studies and subsequent trial of the practices within, the teachers will be encouraged to connect with other educators who have been impacted by the two concepts through social media, thus expanding their community of practice and drawing on the experiences of a wide range of practitioners (Wenger et al. 2002).
In empowering others within the school to take the ownership of the Design Thinking discussion we are taking a strategic system approach to change. We want to develop core competencies in our staff that deepen our values within our school culture. By dispersing leadership throughout the community, agency and pride are gained, emphasizing substance rather than technique. This is important to provide community members the opportunity to internalize and connect with the “why” of the process and not just the steps to completion (Evans, 1996).
At this stage, where all teachers in the middle school have had some exposure to Design Thinking and have had several opportunities to implement the process into their practice, it is important for these incremental accomplishments to be highlighted and shared within our educational and parent communities. As Design Thinking begins to be utilized, we want to inform and include all stakeholders into our mission of innovation. Each of the examples and successes that the teachers are sharing strengthens inspires a school culture where teachers are empowered to innovate (Martin, 2015). It is important for each teacher to share what they are doing so as not to be stuck in silos. Teachers can learn a great deal from each other and feel confident in attempting new methods when the community understands and supports the purpose of their actions. Through sharing ideas teachers not only develop their practice within their own classrooms, they also challenge other educators to reach and stretch the boundaries of education (Sahlberg, 2015). One of the stages in the Design Thinking cycle is the Evolution Stage. By this stage the teacher has been inspired by an idea, researched and gathered knowledge, created their own plan to reach their goal, and experimented with and gathered feedback from their students. The Evolution Stage takes this learning to the next level and looks at how we convey the understandings that we have gained to others, how we craft our story to inspire others. (IDEO, 2012)
To ensure that our integration of Design Thinking into our school culture is sustainable it is necessary to continue professional development for all of the teachers. We will build upon the knowledge of those first agents of change that attended workshops, by each semester providing funds for additional teachers to attend varied Design Thinking events and workshops. For teachers to understand our commitment towards innovation, job descriptions will be amended to include yearly internal professional development attendance on Design Thinking, with an expectation of attending at least one externally provided Design Thinking workshop. Design thinking is by nature sustainable. It is the practice of questioning who we are, why we do what we do, and why we do what we do the way we do it. In essence, integrating Design Thinking into our school culture is the step we are taking to make Alcuin School and our values sustainable.
The adoption of Design Thinking methods is not an extreme change to our school, but a focusing on our mission, beliefs, and values. The systems and strategies involved in Design Thinking will allow us to get to the next step when we are faced with unexpected changes. Design Thinking provides the road map for problem solving in such a way that problems become less daunting and approached as challenges for which we are equipped to tackle. To be able to be true to our mission, beliefs, and values, we need to be continually asking ourselves why we are doing what we are doing and constantly be seeking better ways to provide opportunities to our community of learners. We need to be reflective and ask, ‘Did that work, why did it work, and how can I make it work better?’ By utilizing Design Thinking we have a framework for school improvement. By integrating Design Thinking into our everyday processes we work towards school improvement in everything we do.
References
Calabrese, R. L. (2002). The leadership assignment: Creating change. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Evans, R. (1996). The human side of school change: Reform, resistance, and the real-life problems of innovation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
IDEO, (2012). Design Thinking for Educators retrieved from http:// designthinkingforeducators.com/
Martin, K. (2015). Creating a Culture of Innovation Versus Transformation http://katielmartin.com/2015/06/10/creating-a-culture-of-innovation-vs-a-transformation/
Robinson, K. (2011). Out of our minds: Learning to be creative. Oxford: Capstone.
Sahlberg, P. (2015). Finnish lessons 2.0 : what can the world learn from educational change in Finland? New York: Teachers College Press.
Wenger, E., McDermott, R., & Snyder, W. M. (2002). Cultivating Communities of practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge
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